The present invention relates to the design and manufacturing of composite parts. Parameters such as material type, surface topology, layup strategy, ply stacking, simple and complex part curvatures, tool head design, material feed speeds, towpath starting point, towpath initial point offset and or stagger, towpath angle of orientation, and generation of intermediate surfaces, are examples of parameters evaluated in the total design and manufacturing environment of composite parts.
The objective of an engineering analysis and the associated numerical model and simulator for a manufacturing process—especially with advanced composite material—is to predict how important design and manufacturing parameters such as material, surface topology, layup strategy, and plies stacking impact the behavior of the final product in term of performances and cost.
The possibility to model how the composite material can simultaneously obey to the design criteria in terms of surface topology, fiber orientation, allowable fiber distortion, fiber wrinkling, thickness distribution, fiber strain, and constraints coming from the manufacturing process such as forming temperature, material tension, inner ply, forming propagation wave, pressure mapping control, and contact area empowers designers and manufacturers to test new forming strategies and materials against design criteria while looking for the optimum combination material-design-manufacturing equipment to ensure the desired production rate and part quality.